It’s been two and a half years since a Hamline University student said her sister’s roommate offered to walk her home from a house party and then raped her in her dorm.

Since then, she had to tell what happened to the sexual assault nurse who examined her at Regions Hospital, a campus security officer, a police investigator and a prosecutor with the Ramsey County attorney’s office.

Time, plus portions of the trauma she blocked out, clouds some of her memories of what happened May 15, 2016, she testified Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.

Still, she said she’s certain of at least two details: Pierce Gerald Heston forced her to perform oral sex on him inside her room at Schilling Hall during the early morning hours that day, and when he left, she was in pain and bleeding from her vagina.

Pierce Heston

The young woman spent hours Tuesday answering attorneys’ questions during opening day of the trial.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Hao Nguyen told jurors during his opening statement that the young woman, now 21, hardly knew Heston at the time. But he was a roommate of her older sister — also a Hamline student — so she didn’t think much of it when he told her that her sister wanted him to escort her home from the house party.

Once they got to her dorm, she used her key card to get inside and Heston came with her, she testified.

She had been drinking but said she started to “sober up” by the time they headed home. She also testified that she had no romantic interest in Heston and there hadn’t been flirting or physical contact between them on their walk.

Once they got to her room, Heston wanted to come inside, she said.

After a brief conversation, he started kissing her, according to her testimony. Shortly thereafter, he forced her to perform oral sex on him, and then raped her vaginally, Nguyen told jurors.

“The defendant is bigger than (the victim). The defendant is stronger than (the victim). … (She told him) she (didn’t want to), but the defendant didn’t listen,” Nguyen said. “He didn’t take no for an answer.”

The woman testified that she didn’t remember much of what happened after the oral sex because she had a panic attack. At some point, she started texting friends and family saying she needed help, she said.

Although she didn’t remember being vaginally penetrated by Heston, she told jurors that the pain she felt after he left her room and the blood running down her leg indicated she had been.

Bruises on her body as well as a laceration to the inside of her vagina were documented during the sexual assault examination, Nguyen said.

Nguyen’s colleague, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Kaarin Long, showed jurors sweatpants and underwear the woman wore after the assault, pointing out dried blood. Prosecutors said that DNA evidence linked Heston to the assault.

Long led the questioning, asking the woman to describe the depression and anxiety she endured afterward and how she had to take a leave of absence from school.

Heston’s defense attorney, Adrianne McMahon, also questioned her.

McMahon homed in on inconsistencies in the statements the young woman gave following the alleged assault. She told one investigator she left the party that night because police showed up, but told a campus security officer it was because she got in an argument with a male friend.

Her story also varied about whether she started texting her friends from the bathroom or from her bed following the alleged assault, about how much she had to drink and whether she suffered one or two panic attacks during the incident.

“Is it fair to say there are a lot of details you don’t remember from that night,” McMahon asked her during cross-examination.

“There’s a handful of details, yeah,” the woman replied.

McMahon also questioned her inability to remember being vaginally raped by Heston.

“So you are surmising that happened because of the pain and the bleeding,” McMahon asked.

“Yeah, there’s a lot I don’t remember about that night,” she responded.

When it was her turn to redirect, Long reminded jurors why it might be difficult for someone who was assaulted and subsequently suffered a panic attack two and a half years ago to remember details of the incident.

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